Aiacciu – Ajaccio
On Friday 7th of August at 13.00 hrs I arrive on the boat “Vincent” from Livorno in the port of Bastia. I start the engine of my car and notice that the temperature has risen to 39.5 degrees. This heat is not the only reason why I want to hurry to get off the boat, just like everybody. It is also because I have a 3 hours drive to Aiacciu, the place where I Muvrini will have their fourth concert of their tour on Corsica, the Giru.
I admit: it is not useful to book a boat to Bastia, when you must be in Aiacciu and there are also direct ferry connection in that direction. But then, the exact location information of the tour was presented after I had booked the ferry, and since prices of the voyage rise as the departure date comes closer, I decided not to change my ticket anymore but to consider the drive after my arrival on the island to be a characteristic start of my vacation. Anyway I will spend many hours in my car to all the remote corners that I Muvrini will be playing. To make it comfortable for myself, I have booked a hotel room in Aiacciu, for after the concert.
This evening I Muvrini will play on the “Casone” which is the Corsican name for the “Place d’Austerlitz”. It lies at the end of the horizontal main street of Aiacciu, the “Cours du Général Leclerc” and is a big field, which is overlooked by the statue of Napoleon. My hotel is directly next to the Calzone and as I get out of the car I can hear I Muvrini sound checking already. I recognize it because of the sound, because I do not know the song itself. It is a warm welcome and I hurry to check into the hotel to be able to experience as much as possible of the sound check.
It is rather disappointing that when I arrive at the entrance gate, it is shut tight. When I walk around to the back there is a red-white demarcation tape, and I do not have the courage to pass it. I decide to go back to the front again to wait on the stairs in the warm sunshine with the other visitors. But first of all I will buy a ticket from Dumè, who recognises me and gives me a cordial welcome. When I turn around the manager Shelly Padovani has arrived too and she greets me warm-heartedly. “Nous te verrons après le concert?” (“We will see you after the concert?”). “Naturellement”, I answer, and she disappears behind the gate to arrange things, many, many things.
I do not stay on the stairs for a long time, because I suddenly remember that my camera contains a nice zoom function. At home I did not have much time to investigate and test my new camera and just reading the manual did not make me much wiser. But I had used the zoom function a week ago at the concert in Loon-Plage, so I was skilled enough to handle it. Through my camera I can see the very last part of the sound check in which the sound of the polyphonic songs is tested. It looks like a typical good sound check without any serious problems as if the Giru has been running already for weeks instead of four days.
At 20.00 hrs Jojo Bernardini opens the doors and I rush to a seat somewhere at the second row. During the sound check I had already noticed that the stage distribution had changed because bass player César Anot was moved from the left to the right side while guitar player Mickey Meinert had moved the opposite way. The keyboard player Achim Meier and drummer Thomas Simmerl stayed on their fixed location and the others have a different place for each song.
Exactly at 22.00 hours the concert begins as keyboard player Achim Meier and guitar player Mickey Meinert come on stage, and the other gradually attend the session too. The applause increases as Jean-François Bernardini shows himself on stage and the group starts playing the happy sounding “Ora”. This is an old new song: ‘old’ because it is played already at the Giru in 2007 and many times after that, but ‘new’ because it has not been recorded yet, and it has now also received a new arrangement. With the chorus the singers Alain Bernardini and Stéphane Mangiantini also appear on stage. The bagpipe and flute player Loïc Taillebrest is playing the accordion for this occasion; some people seem to be able to do everything, The concert goes on smoothly and this is the track list of the songs they have played throughout the Giru, and the encores out of which a selection was made every night:
1. Ora
2. Gioia <- NEW!
3. Di quale sì l’amore
4. Ne farai un ortu <- NEW!
5. Quandu senterà
6. Alma
7. Tù mi faci ingrandà <- NEW!
8. Ùn ti ne scurdà
9. Agnus Dei
10. Terzetti di u piuvanu
11.Notte <- NEW!
12. Dì
13. Blowing in the wind
14. Bonafurtuna
15. Gaia
16. Quand’hè
17. Inseme si pò <- NEW!
18. Canzona di u Rizzanese
19. Pudè
20. À voce rivolta
21. Tù mi manchi
22. Peccatu <- NEW!
23. Ti ricunnoscu <- NEW!
24. Sarà
The new songs, what are they like? The answer is of course: fantastic! One should not generalise, but at first hearing I am again surprised that Jean-François has succeeded once again in finding simple melodies for each song, that keep singing in your head. If all new songs end up on the new album at the beginning of 2010, then it is going to be a magnificent album.
The highlight of the evening is as always ‘A Voce Rivolta’, this time accompanied by several children who have been invited by Jean-François to enter the stage to play on the instruments the band has brought with them. The children make with their loud drumming such a noise that microphones are certainly needed to carry the sound, but in any case is this a big feast for the children, the band and the audience, which is followed by a thunderous applause. Jean-François manages to instruct the children how to take such applause. Prompted by Jean-François they all together flawlessly make a big bow, and they repeat that many times. Only when Jean-François finally leaves the stage the children are guided by Pierrot to get back to their more than proud parents, otherwise we could have seen the sun rise.
The applause continues for a long time, long enough to carry and install a small piano on stage. When Jean-François gets on stage again, he bows again and seats himself behind the piano to start reading from his just published book “Dicocorse”. People laugh loudly at his funny words, but that happiness changes when he introduces briefly the grave song “Tu mi manchi” and starts to sing. The two news songs afterwards are again brand new and unprecedentedly beautiful, and the evening is ended with the reprise performance of ‘Sarà’.
To my surprise there are not many people waiting after the two and a half hour during concert to meet Jean-François and Alain. They are standing with Stéphane in a small tent and together with Stéphane they are giving autographs in a small tent. The first group of people is walking to the tent with Shelley, and as there is then nobody in front of me, I decide to walk through. If my arrival is not welcome, I can always turn around again. But of course I am warmly greeted by Alain, while I can see that Jean-François is taking the effort to start up a conversation with a little child. I suggest to Alain that it might be time to go home, knowing that the men still have to take the same route that I have made this afternoon in the opposite direction. While he is laughing he says: “C’est habitude”, and yes indeed, for them it is an annual habit of just one month, but what kind of a habit!
Bastia – Ajaccio = 150 km, 3 hours 4 minutes
Below you see the route I have driven. On the map below you can see the exact location. Just above the balloon with the “B” you can see the outdoor theater Casone.
Ajaccio - Casone, Place d'Austerlitz
Themocracy
Bravo pour votre sympatique site et encore merci pour l’information que vous donnez.